Gautam Ghosh's blog on how social media and technology and online communities are impacting organizations, people, careers and learning. Some focus on Social Recruiting, Social HR, Social Learning and Social Recognition.

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Oct 25, 2005

Hunting talent at the mall and multiplex

This weekend we went to Prasad's the mall-cum-multiplex in Hyderabad to watch a Hindi movie. But what popped my eyes was to see a stall set up by Adecco People -One blaring out notices like

"Come apply to us for a chance to work with our Fortune 500 clients in their BPOs"

and,

"Refer a friends CV and carry home a cool gift"

Before the movie started I was forced to see an ad by Ma Foi (how effective is this kind of advertising anyway?)

That really brought home the point that how difficult it is becoming for organizations to hire people even at the entry stage. Once upon a time recruiters had more CVs than they needed and very few clients. Now the demand clearly is pulling ahead of supply. Or, let's qualify that. Quality supply. This is leading to salaries rising and active poaching in the BPO industry. even if existing players have a no-poach arrangement (a practice that I think is very inefficient) new players are constantly coming in and to cut through the clutter differentiating themselves on salary.

The thought being:

These people don't look at it as a long term career, they are here to make a fast buck and therefore lets give them the inducement of more cash and they'll come.

I think the real differentiator in this market would be an organization that actually offers a career and helps them to develop for further roles. Cunselling and organizational support given by employers can ensure that loyalty to the organization is not an outdated concept.

The bottomline being, so long as organizations treat people as 'resources' that's the mindset that the people have towards the organizations.